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Second aid convoy enters besieged Madaya town north of Damascus

Xinhua, January 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

A fresh aid convoy entered the besieged town of Madaya, north of the capital Damascus, on Thursday, the second to be delivered to the hunger-battered rebel-held area in a week, a source told Xinhua.

Nearly 45 truckloads of aid, carrying the emblems of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), headed early Thursday toward Madaya, which has been under government forces' siege for over six months.

Thursday's is the second batch of aid supplies to be delivered to Madaya under a new deal supervised by the United Nations.

The new aid includes mainly wheat for around 40,000 hungry people in Madaya, a resort town north of Damascus, close to the Lebanese borders.

Last Monday, aid convoys reached Madaya, and Kafraya and Foah, two pro-government towns under rebel siege.

The entry of aid to Madaya was coupled with the entry of new aid to Kafraya and Foah.

"Today we are continuing to deliver aid. We are moving into Madaya with 45 trucks carrying food and medical stuff and 18 aid trucks entered Kafraya and Foah in Idlib province," Yakoub al-Helo, a UN spokesperson said in Madaya.

The recent aid deliveries came after the government agreed to loosen its siege on Madaya, and the rebels in control of the northwestern province of Idlib agreed to allow aid into Kafraya and Foah.

Warring parties in Syria have resorted to sieges to diminish one another's strength.

The tactic successfully forced rebels out of several areas and drove the government into negotiations in other areas, but countless civilians fell victim to the dire consequences of the sieges. Endit